January 22, 2001

Name:

JJ

Age:

One year old

Gender:

Male

Breed:

Short-Tail Possum

Home:

East Northport, Long Island, USA

JJ
came to live with us in August, 2000. Our daughter wanted a furry,
cuddly friend in addition to the four birds that we already had. After
much research we decided on a guinea pig, but when we went to pick one
out we saw JJ, who had just returned from a children's petting zoo
party, and fell in love! We had never even seen a short-tail possum
before! He loved to be held and scratched and his favorite place was on
your shoulder. We put a deposit on him and went home to do tons of
research.

We found out that short-tail possums are marsupials from the rainforest
of South America. Although similar in appearance to the oppossums that
we all know here in the US they are totally different animals. They are
much smaller (JJ is at his full length now of about 9" including his
tail), and although their tail is prehensile it is not weight-bearing so
they cannot hang from trees. After learning as much as we could, we
picked JJ up a few days later and proceeded to learn even about this
utterly fascinating little fellow. They said only a ten or fifteen gallon tank
was required for him but we had an old 30 gallon long tank that we set
up for him (we call it his mansion) that included a ferret water bottle,
a half-log to sleep and dig under, a running wheel, and a little
crawl-in shelter in a corner. Since he is nocturnal, he loves to run on
his wheel all night long. (The occasional drop of olive oil on the wheel
helps keep the squeaking down!) It is so funny how he holds his tail
over his head when he is running. He sleeps most of the day but comes
out to stretch and run occasionally.

JJ is also more than happy to come out and be held, talked to and
scratched. His favorite place to be is right on your shoulder for hours
at a stretch. He loves to meet and be around people and will allow
anyone to hold him. He has never even shown any signs of aggression to
anyone. Similar to a ferret, he picks a certain place in his cage to do
his business and even lets us know when he has to go if he happens to be
on our shoulder.

JJ loves a variety of foods and will eat just about anything we offer
him. He gets a daily diet which includes fruits, veggies and ferret
food. He also gets a calcium source every day such as hard-boiled eggs
(shell included), vanilla pudding or unsweetened/no fat yogurt. He also
thoroughly enjoys pasta, chicken, beef, and turkey. In addition, we
alternate daily with crickets and wax worms. It is pretty amazing how he
becomes a hunter when he sees the crickets. He never ceases to let us
know how much he loves feeding time... his little nose comes out from
under his log sniffing away and keeps on sniffing until he finds the
source of what smells so good! He looks so cute while he sits on two
feet while he eats holding his food in his little pink hands... he
reminds me of a hungry child eating an afternoon snack!!

JJ makes no sounds (unless you want to count sniffing as one!!).
Recently however, he has started to make this whirring type of purr
sound while sitting up on two feet or stretched out on top of his log.
We are not sure what the sound means but he seems to make it when he is
feeling content. Every morning as we are getting ready for the day, JJ
will be getting ready for bed. We give him a tissue to help make his bed
nice and soft. He proceeds to rip up the tissue and then wraps his tail
around it and carry it with him while he decides where he wants to make
his daily den. He looks so funny with his tail wrapped around this big
wad of tissue while he struts around!! We love JJ very much and enjoy
having him as our friend. He seems to enjoy us also!! We wanted to share
the story of us getting to know this unique and loveable little fellow
and thought this would be the best place to do it.